Pencil and Ink on Display at Clarke’s Quigley Gallery

By Clarke News | September 25, 2015

Clarke University’s Alumni Spotlight Exhibition features Jenny Harms Link’s exquisite graphite drawings and Marianne Bennett’s preparatory tattoo drawings.

The exhibition, titled Pencil and Ink, will be on display in the Quigley Gallery on the Clarke campus from Saturday, Sept. 26, through Saturday, Oct. 17. A reception for the artists will be held from 3-4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Admission is free. Quigley Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

In Harms Link’s work, each composition portrays a figure with her internal unrest physically manifested. Anxiety appears as a part of each subject’s body. The hair begins at the roots fully rendered, but as it grows it becomes less defined and eventually emerges as ribbons. The ribbons envelop, attack and entwine the figures. These extensions of the person represent the subject’s unrealistic expectations and the perception of uncontrollable circumstances.

Harms Link earned a BFA in drawing in 2008 from Clarke. She lives and works in Dubuque while actively participating in the regional art community. Her artwork has been shown at the Carnegie-Stout Public Library, the Dubuque Area Arts Collective, the Dubuque Museum of Art, the Nash Gallery and the Quigley Gallery.

In Bennett’s presented body of work will include drawings and preparatory studies from her professional tattoo practice. There are examples of her own designs, commissions, tattoo stencils and art created in a variety of tattoo genres. One aspect that should be obvious to the viewer is the utilitarian way in which art is produced for the tattoo process, as the true final product literally walks out the door of the studio upon completion. These drawings and paintings are simply a blueprint for the tattoo that is to be.

Bennett creates tattoos out of the studio Animal Farm Tattoo in Chicago

She is a 2009 graduate of Clarke University, with a BFA in ceramic sculpture. Her complete portfolio can be viewed on Instagram @mariannebennetttattoo or on the Animal Farm Tattoo website